BECN1 and Familial prostate cancer: The link between autophagy and carcinogenesis was first described in mouse models, where heterozygous knockout of the autophagy-related gene, beclin 1 (Becn1), increased the incidence of liver and lung tumors [33, 34], which is in line with frequent allelic loss of BECN1 in human breast, ovary, and prostate cancers [35, 36].